


Distractions

by numot94 (futureplans)



Series: Twitter Drabble Giveaways [6]
Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 21:55:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21106622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/futureplans/pseuds/numot94
Summary: Her sketchbook was open before she’d even made the conscious decision. But she really couldn’t help it. Beauty must be captured. When the Muse calls, an artist must answer.





	Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble based on the winning non-wenrene prompt for the Fifth Drabble Giveaway I held on Twitter (https://twitter.com/numot94/status/1172639032012103680): “I’m not stalking you, exactly, it’s just that you accidentally put my notebook in your bag and I’m waiting for a good moment to steal it back before you see the doodles of you I did in it” AU

Seulgi is behind on… Well, she's not quite sure since even looking at her calendar of due dates is too stressful to handle right now, but gun to her head, she'd say she's behind on just about everything. 

So of course she's sitting in the library next to a bunch of books she should be reading, and totally ignoring them in favour of doodling on her sketchbook. 

She didn’t mean to. She really was going to work, she swears. It’s just that ten minutes in, someone sat next to her on the long shared table, pulling out their notes with barely a glance around, and Seulgi made the mistake of looking up at their distracted greeting.

After that, she was just a goner, because sitting next to her was the very girl she’s been crushing on for months. Quite possibly the prettiest girl on campus. As impossibly sweet as she is impossibly tiny, with an easy smile that lights up her eyes and cute dimples in her cute cheeks and…

Seulgi tried to pull her attention back to her notes, to the things that she should actually be memorizing. Instead, all that entered her mind was the flicker of the girl’s eyelashes as she blinked, the patterns her restless fingers tapped on the tabletop, the strand of hair that swung in front of her eyes.

She noticed she had started doodling the girl’s features on the corner of her notes. The short brown hair, the curve of her chin, they came to life slowly in a little cramped nook, the only place safe from text and formulas.

But they deserved better than that. They deserved room to breathe, to shine in all their beauty. 

Her sketchbook was open before she’d even made the conscious decision. But she really couldn’t help it. Beauty must be captured. When the Muse calls, an artist must answer.

So now she’s sitting in the library drawing the girl next to her, who is so concentrated on her notes that she doesn’t even seen aware that she has company. Or that said company is doing something a little on the edge of stalkerish.

Seulgi sighs quietly, pencil hovering over the ear it has been carefully filling with the girl’s piercings. Maybe she should just move tables. She really does have to work, and this whole thing is starting to make her feel creepy. 

She hesitates, then puts down her pencil and closes her sketchbook. She’ll go to the bathroom, splash some water on her face, and try to go back to her studying. If she can’t, she’ll just go back to her room. Sure, Sooyoung is probably in there listening to some aggressively peppy music, but Seulgi isn’t getting anything done here anyway.

She pauses at the door to the bathroom, all thoughts escaping her head as her eyes land on her table.

The girl is leaving! With distracted sweeping motions, she’s shoving her things back into her bag. In go the pencils and pens, the phone, the books. 

In goes Seulgi’s sketchbook, caught in the tide. 

Seulgi takes three panicked steps, then freezes on the spot. What is she even going to do? Stop the girl, tell her she needs her sketchbook back? What if she looks at it, what if it falls open as she returns it, what if?

What if the girl takes one look at Seulgi and her breath gets caught in her throat and she just flaps her mouth uselessly at her, like a fish out of water, too dazzled by her beauty and proximity to come up with words?

It could happen! She isn’t good at talking to girls! She can’t risk it!

But then what?

The girl starts walking towards the exit and Seulgi returns to the table with quiet steps. She takes the single notebook left behind, shoves her pencil in her pocket, then follows the girl outside. 

Now she feels even more like a stalker than before.

They make their way across campus, Seulgi lagging as far behind as she can but hurrying around corners to make sure she doesn’t lose sight of her target. A few people stop to stare at the not-very-stealthy display, but all that matters is that the girl ahead of her is still too distracted with her own thoughts to notice she’s being tailed.

They pass the science and literature departments, then walk by the northern dorm blocks. As the girl continues straight ahead, panic begins to grip Seulgi. They’re walking right out of the campus and towards the bus stop.

Seulgi doesn’t have the time _or _the money for a bus ride to who knows where. Not to mention how easily she gets lost. It took her like a month just to memorize the way between her dorm room, the cafeteria and her classes.

She’s going to end up alone in the city, at night, with no money, and the girl is just going to get away with Seulgi’s sketchbook anyway, and Seulgi finds tears prick at the back of her eyes right when they make an abrupt turn right, and suddenly they’re making their way to the local coffee shop.

The sigh of relief that escapes her is so loud that she thinks she’ll get noticed for real.

Inside the coffee shop, Seulgi rummages through all her pockets for enough change to buy whatever’s cheapest, then sits down at a corner table with her tiny cup of black coffee. Her fingers tap her thigh impatiently and she takes tiny sips of the bitter drink as she watches the girl, heart skipping a beat whenever she goes anywhere near her bag.

When the girl gets up to go to the bathroom, leaving the bag on her chair, Seulgi feels like she’s had her first stroke of luck in the entire day. 

She slides casually from table to table until she is right next to her target, then lets a hand slip into the bag as the other remains on her coffee, eyes sweeping the shop for any witnesses.

“If you’re looking for valuables, you’re out of luck.”

Seulgi jumps so high in her chair that she nearly spills the rest of her coffee on herself. The pretty girl herself comes up from behind her, looking more apologetic than anything else. A little too late, Seulgi pulls her hand back to her lap.

“All I’ve got in there are candy wrappers, old receipts and a Starbucks gift card,” the girl continues, her low voice sprouting butterflies in Seulgi’s stomach. She glances towards the cashier and Seulgi realizes she’s keeping quiet in order to avoid making a scene.

“I wasn’t- I wasn’t stealing,” she begins clumsily, and she gets a dubious glance in return. “I mean, I was taking something, but it’s mine, so it’s not… technically stealing.”

“And how did something of yours end up in my bag?”

“You took it by mistake, in the library.” She digs into the bag again, causing the girl’s mouth to open in slight affront, then pulls out her sketchbook. “I was sitting next to you, I guess you didn’t notice.”

The girl’s eyes widen at the clearly unfamiliar object. “Oh my god, I am so sorry!” she exclaims, her voice suddenly raising far above the previous whisper. “I had no idea, I- Why didn’t you say something?”

Seulgi scans through her options and she comes up with either “because you’re too pretty” or “because it’s a creepy stalker sketchbook” and she doesn’t particularly want to say either of them so she presses her lips together and looks up in awkward silence.

Seungwan looks down at her, also awkwardly silent. She clears her throat, then stretches out an arm. “So, uh, I’m Seungwan.”

Seulgi takes it, shakes it. Seungwan’s hands are nice and warm and she lets the touch linger, heart speeding at the contact. 

“I’m Seulgi,” she eventually remembers to reply.

“And you're in the arts department?" At Seulgi’s blank look, Seungwan gestures at the sketchbook in her hands. Right. 

"No, I'm actually a bio major. The drawing is just a hobby." 

"Oh, that's cool! I’m pre-law.” Seulgi nods at her words, takes a sip of her drink. Still bitter. “Do you think I can see them? The sketches, I mean. I’m a little curious, now." 

Seulgi freezes, fingers tightening their hold on her book as the panic returns, but Seungwan quickly laughs it off. 

"I guess it's private, then. More of a second date thing." Seulgi's eyes widen and she nearly chokes on another sip of the coffee. Second date? Like, a first date and then another one after that? With Seungwan? She swallows painfully, eyes watering at the effort not to cough. 

"Just a joke, just a joke!” Seungwan quickly clears, apparently amused at Seulgi’s reaction. “But, uh, I do feel kind of bad about taking your book and wrongfully accusing you of stealing. I'd offer to buy you a coffee but…" she trails off, waving towards Seulgi's half-drunk cup. 

Seulgi’s gaze follows her gesture and she looks at her sad, lonely little cup of bitter coffee. She doesn’t even like having coffee in the afternoon. She prefers retreating to her room and rummaging around for one of the many bags of snacks she keeps there. As if on cue, she feels her stomach rumble in protest.

“You could buy me dinner,” she suggests, a nice warm meal on her mind, then locks eyes with Seungwan and feels her entire face go red. “I, uh, I mean, instead of coffee, because it’s getting late, like dinner-time late, and… Food is, uh, good.”

The smile on Seungwan’s face seems to be at Seulgi’s expense, but it’s welcoming in an unexpected way, so that when she nods in easy acceptance of the dinner suggestion, all that Seulgi feels is a pleasant sort of giddiness.

They exchange numbers and Seungwan goes back to her room to drop off some things. Seulgi walks to her own dorm block with light steps and a smile that won’t leave her face, not even when Sooyoung opens the door with a can of bug spray in her hand and a very guilty look on her face.

Who cares about Sooyoung’s messes, about bugs or sketches, about classes or money or anything at all? 

She has a date! With pretty girl! With _Seungwan_!


End file.
